STUDING SACRED TEXTS
Bhagavad Gita
No sacred treatise, has a setting as intriguing as the Bhagavad Gita. The dialogue between the princely warrior Arjuna and Lord Krishna, the Supreme Godhead before the onset of the Mahabharata War is universally renowned as the jewel of India’s spiritual wisdom.
Paralyzed by the fear of killing his kinsmen, friends and teachers in the opposite army, Arjuna decided not to fight putting aside his social duty as Kshatriya (warrior). Krishna, who agreed to become the driver of Arjuna’s chariot, eloquently explains him on the battlefield about His duties of being a warrior. The conversation moves to a series of questions and answers about metaphysical concepts such as soul, relationship with God, liberation, Karma Yoga (the principle of non-attached action), Gyaan Yoga (knowledge) and Bhakti Yoga (devotion).
Vedas
The word Veda can be traced to the sanskrit word vid which means “to know” or “knowledge.” The Vedic texts contain information on varied topics: from medicine to cosmology , from techniques of yoga and meditation to explanation of lessons in governmental organisation and military protocols.
Written by Lord Vyasadeva, the vedas are divided into four books Rig Veda (earliest sacred hymns of Vedas), Sama Veda (the Vedas of melodies), Yajur Veda (Rituals) and Atharva Veda (the Vedas of incantations.). The Vedas also included Upanishads, numerous Sutras (books of concise truth) and the Vedangas (auxiliary science related with Vedic study like astronomy, astrology and phonetics.)
In addition, there are Upavedas (sciences not directly related to Vedic study) like Ayurveda (study of holistic medicine) and Gandharva-Veda study of music. It also included Puranas such as Srimad Bhagavatam and epics like as Mahabharata and Ramayanas.
According to the Vaishnava tradition, this knowledge was passed down, from master to disciple in disciplic succession or parampara.
Upanishad
The word ‘Upanishad’ has been derived from the root Sad (to sit), to which are added two prefixes: Upa and Ni. The prefix Upa denotes nearness and Ni totality. Thus, this word means ‘sitting near by devotedly’. This no doubt refers to the pupil’s sitting down near his teacher at the time of instruction. The word in course of time gathered round it the sense of secret teaching or secret doctrine (Rahasya) which was imparted at such sittings. Upanishads are frequently spoken of as Rahasya (secret) or Guhya (mystery) also. We find in Upanishads, that due to secrecy and mystery of the teachings, a teacher refuses to impart instruction to a pupil who has not proved his worthiness to receive the instruction. Through another definition, the word primarily signifies knowledge, yet by implication it also refers to the book that contains that knowledge.
According to the Muktikopanishad 108 Upanishads are divided according to four Vedas are as follows :
A. 10 Upanishads from the Rigveda
B.i. 19 Upanishads from the Shukla-Yajurveda
B.ii. 32 Upanishads from the Krishna-Yajurveda
C. 16 Upanishads from the Samaveda and
D. 31 Upanishads from the Atharvaveda.